But with yearning and strife that seemed ever
To be linked with toil and pain,
I crossed with a mighty endeavor
And passed beyond in life’s plain;
And as the broad noon was sinking;
I beheld in the distant light
The giant mountain shrinking
And fading on my sight.
VII.
Now the sunset shadow lengthens,
While the light of evening fails,
And the holy calm which strengthens
The worn out soul prevails;
And I look to the distant heaven,
Where the mountain late upreared,
And lo, in the purple even
It hath almost disappeared!
The Mystery of the Sea.
I.
THE good ship cleared the harbor bar,
And a fair west wind was blowing;
The misty mainland, stretching far,
O’er the sunlit sea was glowing.
II.
And the captain paused as the deck he paced,
While visions of home came o’er him;
And a weeping mother his fancy traced
In the scenes that passed before him.